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Natori Harris
Molinari
3 December 2014
ENC1101

Are We Not Old Enough For Medical Marijuana?
Marijuana has many positive industrial and medical uses while alcohol and tobacco have negative effects, so why isn't marijuana legal ? Since pretty much the dawn of time ,tobacco and alcohol has become a common hobby for young adults with many negative results like deaths.The constant use of the substance can lead to many health problems even cancer in places the smoke or alcohol may come in contact with.
Theres also even huge war on drugs that harm society yet marijuana ,also known as cannabis, is placed into that war as if it harms lives the other substances like crack,meth,acid, and many other dangerous drugs. Art Carden from
Forbes.com
makes a valid point by stating “American governments at all levels have been fighting the war on drugs for over four decades now, and it’s overwhelmingly clear that it’s time to cut our losses, admit that the whole thing was a mistake, and work toward restoring the lives that have been destroyed by the drug war.”.Its commonly misconcepted that marijuana is this dangerous drug that ruins people's lives and can make state officials look bad when they legalize it. Marijuana can actually reflect positively on communities and can even have a big government profit. “Pot shop owners across Colorado believe they collectively made more than $1 million statewide.”(9news).Just that in general should open people's eyes to the fact that the US isn't a kid that plays with some drug we found .We are crafting it into a safer drug that can be used for many medical

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reasons. Medical marijuana is a legal drug in 23 of the 50 states, that helps vast amounts of people with all different background and age groups. When cannabis marijuana was first introduced it was in the form of “Hemp”.
Hemp being the lower THC extract of the cannabis plant used for industrial use . The discovery of hemp was a very beneficial product for our country as we grew. “Hemp and humanity have been linked for over 10,000 years. Hemp was our first agricultural crop, and remained the planet's largest crop and most important industry until late last century”. How could such a multi­purpose plant be seen as bad? Its even possible to link it back to our wars when were fighting and only looking to use the best of the best resources. “During World War II, imports of hemp and other materials crucial for producing marine cordage, parachutes, and other military necessities became scarce.
In response the U.S. Department of Agriculture launched its "Hemp for Victory" program, encouraging farmers to plant hemp by giving out seeds and granting draft deferments to those who would stay home and grow hemp. By 1943 American farmers registered in the program harvested 375,000 acres of hemp.”, PBS. But as time went on it slowly started to receive a bad reputation with crime and delusion in people as if it would vastly impair someone's normal unintoxicated judgement. These crimes would vary vastly from small crimes to murders “Did you read of the Drain murder case in
Pueblo recently? Marihuana is believed to have been used by one of the bloody murderers” & ”two weeks ago a sex­mad degenerate, named Lee Fernandez, brutally attacked a young Alamosa girl. He was convicted of assault with intent to rape and

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sentenced to 10 to 14 years in the state penitentiary. Police officers here know definitely that Fernandez was under the influence of marihuana. But this case is one in hundreds of murders, rapes, petty crimes, insanity that has occurred in southern Colorado in recent years.”.
Tobacco and alcohol are both substances that far surpass marijuana when it comes to negative factors. In fact tobacco and alcohol products are both heavily non recommended by doctors due to the high risk health factors that may arise.NIAAA even discusses the situations that may arise